What are the ducks eating?
I have been watching the ducks on the Mystic River. Mallards, Buffleheads, Mergansers. I am wondering what they are eating when they bob under the water? Is there still plant life available? What happens to the water plants in the winter? Don't they die back like perennials on land?
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Great observation, Kim. Remember that our ponds, lakes, rivers do not freeze solid and ice floats. The aquatic plants can survive in the cold water under the ice so their tissues are not exposed to freezing like the herbaceous perennials. Also, ducks will nab any aquatic macroinvertebrates they can find surviving under the ice.
Yesterday, I had a similar encounter. Walking on the frozen pond across the street from my house, I came upon a small area that was open from a stream that runs into the pond. There were four robins in the shallow water flipping leaves into the air and eating whatever was lying underneath. I too wondered what they were eating. Perhaps insects, larvae, tiny fish or fish eggs? Though they eat berries, I do not know if they would eat any of the plant material found in the water.
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